Stories by James Niccolai

AOL to buy MaqQuest.com for $1.1 billion

America Online yesterday said it plans to acquire MapQuest.com, a provider of online mapping and navigation services, in an all-stock transaction valued at about $US1.1 billion.

Spike networks, Pacific Century plot joint venture

Spike Networks and Hong Kong's Pacific Century CyberWorks have agreed to form a joint venture that will offer a range of Internet services, including those to help businesses develop and manage Web sites.
The venture initially will build on Spike's existing operations in Australia and Japan, although the companies hope eventually to expand throughout Asia Pacific and beyond, the company said.

Cabletron reports strong Q3, closes FlowPoint sale

Networking vendor Cabletron Systems reported third-quarter income on Monday of $US22 million or 12 cents per share on a pro forma basis, company officials said in a statement. The results beat the expectations of Wall Street analysts by two cents per share, according to a consensus estimate gathered by First Call/Thomson Financial.

Cisco to pay $2billion for Pirelli division

Cisco Systems has agreed to acquire the optical networking systems division of Italy's Pirelli SpA in a deal valued at more than $US2 billion, Pirelli said in a statement issued yesterday.

Cisco acquires Worldwide Data for $US25.5 million

Cisco Systems has signed a definitive agreement to acquire privately held Worldwide Data Systems, which provides consulting and engineering services for companies trying to build converged data and voice networks.

Linuxcare expands services worldwide

Linuxcare yesterday announced plans to open nine global service centres in an effort to expand its services for customers that use Linux worldwide.

Throw it all out and start again, Ellison advises

To avoid being outflanked by an upstart Internet company, businesses need to throw out their legacy IT infrastructure and start all over again, Larry Ellison, Oracle's chairman and chief executive officer, said in a provocative, if fanciful, speech.

HP's chief defends multi-platform server strategy

Brushing off a criticism that Hewlett-Packard's server strategy is unclear, Carly Fiorina, HP's president and chief executive officer, said her company will continue to pursue a multi-platform strategy by developing systems for the Windows NT, HP-UX and Linux operating systems.

Throw Iit all out and start again, Ellison advises

To avoid being outflanked by an upstart Internet company, businesses need to throw out their legacy IT infrastructure and start all over again, Larry Ellison, Oracle's chairman and chief executive officer, said in a provocative, if fanciful, speech here on Wednesday night.

NetWare 5 sales drive strong Q4 for Novell

Novell on Tuesday reported a profit of US21 cents per share for its fourth fiscal quarter, comfortably ahead of analysts' expectations. Revenue for the quarter increased 16 percent from a year ago to reach $345 million, the company said.

COMDEX: McNealy, the comedian, predicts the future

Scott McNealy had a serious message about the IT industry to deliver here today, but the chairman and chief executive officer of Sun Microsystems couldn't bring himself to deliver it until he'd cracked every gag in the book about arch-rival Microsoft.

COMDEX: Compaq may shun Wintel with 'Net PCs

Compaq has restructured its commercial desktop division into two parts, part of a giant effort to focus on low-cost internet PCs and devices aimed at corporate customers.
The new division will develop the iPaq class of computers, as well as internet appliances like wireless handheld computers.

[]